Research Help
Your 4–6-minute video should critically examine political polarization through a social science lens.
You may choose to examine political polarization through one or more of these subjects within the social sciences:
- economics
- political science
- psychology
- sociology
- education
Be sure to include social science concepts and/or theories in your research and final product.
The main purpose is to enhance understanding of your topic and propose real solutions.
Remember to:
- Incorporate a minimum of one scholarly (credible) source using APA Style to support/demonstrate your understanding of this topic.
- Review the grading rubric carefully to understand the judging criteria for this contest.
Consider these questions as you create your topic:
- What role should the social sciences play in the analysis of political polarization?
- How has social science research helped you to better understand the impacts of political polarization on the individual, community, and society?
- What are some of the key ways to address the impacts of political polarization on individuals, communities and society?
Keyword/Topics:
- To help you get started, mix and match suggested keywords in the table below, to both create and search for a topic
| partisanship | sensationalism | ideological beliefs | elections | |
| economic | polarization | activism | education | |
| partisan | polarized | objective | confirmation bias | |
| propaganda | rhetoric | violence | media | |
| division | bias | objective analysis | social norms | |
| discourse | national security | protests | institutions | |
| conspiracy | psychology | conversation | families | societal |
| psychological | aggression | relationships |
As you research:
- Beware of your own personal biases and be open to considering information that challenges your opinions
- Try switching out keywords in search boxes to get different results
- Save the article permalink (in Databases) for any source that you may need to return to later
Websites to get you started
These websites from reputable research institutions will help you see the "big picture" of political polarization:
- Carnegie Endowment for International PeacePaper: "Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says"
- Pew Research Center"Political Polarization" Results List
***You must log in with your SSC email address and Canvas password to access Library Database articles and Library eBooks***
We think these Library Databases with scholarly information will be useful:
- Academic Search Complete - find general information about many different aspects of your topic
- Encyclopedia of US Political History - get detailed information about historical events connected to your topic
- Social Science Journals - find articles that discuss topics through a social science lens/approach
- Opposing Viewpoints - get articles/essays/reports that reflect BOTH sides of a topic
- CQ Researcher Plus Archive - get information about current affairs/US government
- JSTOR - find unique articles from more obscure publications with sociological/historical perspectives
We think these Library eBooks may be helpful:
Polarization by
The 2016 election of Donald J. Trump invoked a time for reflection about the state of American politics and its deep ideological, cultural, racial, regional, and economic divisions. But one aspect that the contemporary discussions often miss is that these fissures have been opening over several decades and are deeply rooted in the structure of American politics and society. In Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know® Nolan McCarty takes readers through what scholars know and don't know about the origins, development, and implications of our rising political conflicts, delving into social, economic, and geographic determinants of polarization in the United States. While the current political climate seems to suggest that extreme views are becoming more popular, McCarty also argues that, contrary to popular belief, the 2016 election was a natural outgrowth of 40 years of polarized politics, rather than a significant break with the past. He evaluates arguments over which factors that have created this state of affairs, including gerrymandered legislative districts, partisan primary nomination systems, and our private campaign finance system. He also considers the potential of major reforms such as instating proportional representation or ranked choice voting to remedy extreme polarization. A concise overview of a complex and crucial topic in US politics, this book is for anyone wanting to understand how to repair the cracks in our system.
ISBN: 9780190867782Publication Date: 2019-07-08
Hate Speech and Polarization in Participatory Society by
This timely volume offers a comprehensive and rigorous overview of the role of communication in the construction of hate speech and polarization in the online and offline arena. Delving into the meanings, implications, contexts and effects of extreme speech and gated communities in the media landscape, the chapters analyse misleading metaphors and rhetoric via focused case studies to understand how we can overcome the risks and threats stemming from the past decade's defining communicative phenomena. The book brings together an international team of experts, enabling a broad, multidisciplinary approach that examines hate speech, dislike, polarization and enclave deliberation as cross axes that influence offline and digital conversations. The diverse case studies herein offer insights into international news media, television drama and social media in a range of contexts, suggesting an academic frame of reference for examining this emerging phenomenon within the field of communication studies. Offering thoughtful and much-needed analysis, this collection will be of great interest to scholars and students working in communication studies, media studies, journalism, sociology, political science, political communication and cultural industries.
ISBN: 9781000462883Publication Date: 2021-09-30
Demography, Politics, and Partisan Polarization in the United States, 1828-2016 by
This book examines the geography of partisan polarization, or the Reds and Blues, of the political landscape in the United States. It places the current schism between Democrats and Republicans within a historical context and presents a theoretical framework that offers unique insights into the American electorate. The authors focus on the demographic and political causes of polarization at the local level across space and time. This is accomplished with the aid of a comprehensive dataset that includes the presidential election results for every county in the continental United States, from the advent of Jacksonian democracy in 1828 to the 2016 election. In addition, coverage applies spatial diagnostics, spatial lag models and spatial error models to determine why contemporary and historical elections in the United States have exhibited their familiar, but heretofore unexplained, political geography. Both popular observers and scholars alike have expressed concern that citizens arebecoming increasingly polarized and, as a consequence, that democratic governance is beginning to break down. This book argues that once current levels of polarization are placed within a historical context, the future does not look quite so bleak. Overall, readers will discover that partisan division is a dynamic process in large part due to the complex interplay between changing demographics and changing politics.
ISBN: 9783030039998Publication Date: 2019-02-15
Losing Power by
Tennessee has made tremendous strides in race relations since the end of de jure segregation. African Americans are routinely elected and appointed to state and local offices, the black vote has tremendous sway in statewide elections, and legally explicit forms of racial segregation have been outlawed. Yet the idea of transforming Tennessee into a racially equitable state--a notion that was central to the black freedom movement during the antebellum and Jim Crow periods--remains elusive for many African Americans in Tennessee, especially those living in the most underresourced and economically distressed communities. Losing Power investigates the complex relationship between racial polarization, black political influence, and multiracial coalitions in Tennessee in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Sekou M. Franklin and Ray Block examine the divide in values, preferences, and voting behaviors between blacks and whites, contending that this racial divide is both one of the causes and one of the consequences of black Tennesseans' recent loss of political power. Tennessee has historically been considered more politically moderate and less racially conservative than the states of the Deep South. Yet in recent years and particularly since the mid- 2000s, Republicans have cemented their influence in the state. While Franklin and Block's analysis and methodology focus on state elections, political institutions, and public policy, Franklin and Block have also developed a conceptual framework for racial politics that goes beyond voting patterns to include elite-level discourse (issue framing), intrastate geographical divisions, social movements, and pressure from interest groups.
ISBN: 9780820356051Publication Date: 2020-01-15
Sustaining Democracy by
Democracy is not easy. Citizens who disagree sharply about politics must nonetheless work together as equal partners in the enterprise of collective self-government. Ideally, this work would be conducted under conditions of mutual civility, with opposed citizens nonetheless recognizing one another's standing as political equals. But when the political stakes are high, and the opposition seems to us severely mistaken, why not drop the democratic pretences of civil partnership, and simply play to win? Why seek to uphold properly democratic relations with those who embrace political ideas that are flawed, irresponsible, and out of step with justice? Why sustain democracy with political foes? Drawing on extensive social science research concerning political polarization and partisan identity, Robert B. Talisse argues that when we break off civil interactions with our political opponents, we imperil relations with our political allies. In the absence of engagement with our political critics, our alliances grow increasingly homogeneous, conformist, and hierarchical. Moreover, they fracture and devolve amidst internal conflicts. In the end, our political aims suffer because our coalitions shrink and grow ineffective. Why sustain democracy with our foes? Because we need them if we are going to sustain democracy with our allies and friends.
ISBN: 9780197556450Publication Date: 2021-09-23
Democracy in Crisis by
The storming of the US Capitol building in January 2021 focused attention on the multiple threats facing contemporary liberal democracies. Beyond the immediate problem of Covid-19, the past two decades saw political polarization, a dramatic rise in inequality, global warming and other environmental threats, as well as the growth of dangerous cultural and political divisions. Western liberal democracies find themselves in the midst of what political theorists call a legitimation crisis: major portions of the population lack confidence in the ability of governments to address our most pressing problems. This distrust in government and traditional political parties opened the door to populist leaders and a rising tide of authoritarianism. Liberal democracies face major structural and normative challenges in the near future that require us to look beyond the traditional set of solutions available. Democracy in Crisis points back to the world's first democratic government, Ancient Athens, to see what made that political arrangement durable and resistant to both internal and external threats. The argument focuses on several distinctive Athenian institutions and practices, and considers how we might reimagine them in the modern world. The book addresses questions of civic ideology and institutions, with extended treatment of two distinctive Athenian institutions, ostracism and sortition.
ISBN: 9781788360630Publication Date: 2022-01-04
The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today by
An eye-opening analysis of collegiate activism and its effects on the divisions in contemporary American politics. The past six years have been marked by a contentious political atmosphere that has touched every arena of public life, including higher education. Though most college campuses are considered ideologically progressive, how can it be that the right has been so successful in mobilizing young people even in these environments?As Amy J. Binder and Jeffrey L. Kidder show in this surprising analysis of the relationship between political activism on college campuses and the broader US political landscape, while liberal students often outnumber conservatives on college campuses, liberal campus organizing remains removed from national institutions that effectively engage students after graduation. And though they are usually in the minority, conservative student groups have strong ties to national right-leaning organizations, which provide funds and expertise, as well as job opportunities and avenues for involvement after graduation. Though the left is more prominent on campus, the right has built a much more effective system for mobilizing ongoing engagement. What's more, the conservative college ecosystem has worked to increase the number of political provocations on campus and lower the public's trust in higher education.In analyzing collegiate activism from the left, right, and center, The Channels of Student Activism shows exactly how politically engaged college students are channeled into two distinct forms of mobilization and why that has profound consequences for the future of American politics.
ISBN: 9780226819860Publication Date: 2022
